Transgender QPOC Arrested In Hate Crime Spree in Bronx

Police on Saturday arrested a transgender woman attacked a white couple in the Bronx and may be behind a series of hate crime attacks in upper Manhattan.

Investigators say the transgender suspect, who is black, confronted a couple on E. 187th Street near Crotona Avenue in the Bronx. She allegedly approached the couple and asked the woman if she was white before pepper spraying her.

“She pepper sprayed me, I couldn’t see anything,” the woman said. “

The man said he tried to approach the suspect but backed off when she pulled a knife. Moments later, they helped lead police to 37-year-old Thomas Herd, who was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where she is set to undergo a mental evaluation before facing charges.

Investigators are now looking into whether Herd is the same person wanted in a string of suspected hate crimes in Manhattan. Multiple people, all of whom are white, were sprayed with an unknown chemical substance near subway stations in Harlem and the Upper West Side around noon on Friday.

In total, police say 11 New Yorkers all Caucasian and asked the same question were attacked starting on Friday on the downtown platform of the 2 and 3 trains at the 125th Street and Lenox Avenue station. The suspect allegedly sprayed five people while walking westbound on 125th Street towards St. Nicholas Avenue, according to police. Officers are still trying to confirm that Herd is the person they’re searching for. in the Friday crime spree.

The NYPD is asking that anyone with information in regards to this incident to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

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Will Kohler is one of America's well known LGBT historians, He is also a a accredited journalist and the owner of Back2Stonewall.com.
A longtime gay activist Will fought on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic with ACT-UP and continues fighting today for LGBT acceptance and full equality.
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